Link to file links gone after rdf re import

ioioai
Hello,

I recently switched my zotero account. I transferred my library as advertised via rdf export import etc.. However, after the import, all my "link to file" links are gone. My base directory is set correctly but I assume that the link information was stored in the sqlite db and hence, gone after the account switch. Fair enough :)

On the other hand I found that the link information is somehow also stored in the rdf xml file (see snippet below). Now I wonder, do I really need to manually set up all links again?

Seems a bit unnecessary if all information is available and base directory is set correctly. Do I miss something?

Thanks,
Johannes

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McCulloch and Pitts - 1943 - A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervou.pdf
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  • dstillman
    I transferred my library as advertised via rdf export import etc.
    This isn't "advertised" — we specifically say that exporting isn't a good method for transferring a library.

    I'm not sure what you mean by "switched my zotero account", but if you just want to change your username you can do that from your account settings.

    (Whether file links should be preserved via export/import is a separate question.)
  • ioioai
    I deleted my old zotero account and created a new one. Surely not the best solution but here I am.

    Sry for the usage of the word "advertised". What I meant was that in order to sync my old library with the new account I had to export and import the references as rdf. This is because the old sqlite db is associated with the old account. When switching accounts zotero consequently deletes it. When connected to the new account, replacing the new sqlite db with an backup of the old one breaks the syc. Hence, export import as rdf. This is at least what I read from other discussions. Correct me if I'm wrong and there is a better way that I missed. (Just to clarify, I only sync references not pdf files via zotero)

    Coming back to my actual questions. Since I had "link to file" links set up in my initial library and since this information seems to be preserved in the rdf file. Why can zotero not recreate them automatically? Is this simply a feature that is not implemented or do I miss it? In other words, do I have to link all files manually again or not?

    Please note that I DO NOT want to start a discussion (or complain) about whether this should work or not or if this should be a feature request or so. I'm very grateful for having open source software like zotero :)

    I simply want to know what I have/can do next in my situation.
  • noksagt
    edited June 29, 2018
    the old sqlite db is associated with the old account.
    Not really. There's nothing that is really account specific. You can stop syncing, setup a new acct, and your first sync would push all that informing to the new acct.
    When switching accounts zotero consequently deletes it.
    Not typically and zotero provides tools to replace the full online database with the database on your desktop if you're in one of the non typical edge cases.
    Hence, export import as rdf. This is at least what I read from other discussions.
    I'm not aware of any discussions that steer users to this if they already have a local copy or backup of the database they want to keep. Are you past that point or do you have a backup of your old zotero directory or are you able to sync to your old acct?
  • adamsmith
    For the questions, though:
    Is this simply a feature that is not implemented or do I miss it? In other words, do I have to link all files manually again or not?
    Zotero is currently not able to create links to local files on import, so this is indeed not implemented.
  • dstillman
    @noksagt: This is all different in Zotero 5. Zotero 5 won't allow you switch accounts without clearing the local database, because there's various state in the database that would need to be cleared or modified before syncing to a new account. It's possible we could allow this again in the future (with a lot of extra work and testing), but now that you can just change your username in your account settings it's not particularly necessary, and it risks unexpected problems.
    Zotero is currently not able to create links to local files on import, so this is indeed not implemented.
    This is correct, but I'm looking into it.
  • dstillman
    I've updated the latest Zotero beta to preserve base-directory-relative paths during import.

    (I'm not entirely sure they should be there to begin with — the alternative would be to serialize them to absolute paths during export, at least when a base directory is set — but they're included in exports currently (I think just when it's set not to export files).)
  • dstillman
    Note, though, that various other info will still be lost when using export/import, including Date Added/Modified and links to items from word processor documents.
  • ioioai
    Thank you guys for clarifying things and thank you for looking into it dstillman! :)

    I think preserving base-directory-relative paths during import is quite a nice feature. However, I also think that my situation (or how I did things) was an extreme corner case and people should be perfectly happy with the intended way of doing things, like simply renaming the account etc. Im aware of the difficulties of keeping data consistent and keeping it simple in general certainly helps.

    Thanks for your great (community) work, keep going! :)

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